Black Friday Sales Down

As expected Thanksgiving weekend sales were down from last year:

Washington, November 29, 2009 –As the closely-watched Black Friday weekend winds down, a National Retail Federation survey conducted over the weekend confirms the expected: more people spent less. According to NRF’s Black Friday shopping survey, conducted by BIGresearch, 195 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend*, up from 172 million last year. However, the average spending over the weekend dropped to $343.31 per person from $372.57 a year ago. Total spending reached an estimated $41.2 billion.

“Shoppers proved this weekend that they were willing to open their wallets for a bargain, heading out to take advantage of great deals on less expensive items like toys, small appliances and winter clothes,” said Tracy Mullin, NRF President and CEO. “While retailers are encouraged by the number of Americans who shopped over Black Friday weekend, they know they have their work cut out for them to keep people coming back through Christmas. Shoppers can continue to expect retailers to focus on low prices and bargains through the end of December.”

In terms of retail shopping I spent almost nothing over the holiday weekend. My wife may have spent a few bucks on sales items, but otherwise we didn't contribute much to the cause.

My son did spend six hours at a Toys-R-Us, but he was helping kids and cranky parents and not buying stuff for himself. If America was counting on my family to dig its way out of the recession, I'm afraid we let you all down.